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Obama wants Clinton to stay
30/03/2008 09:02 - (SA)
Johnstown - Barack Obama refused on Saturday to go along with other Democrats who are calling for Hillary Rodham Clinton to step away from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"My attitude is Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants," Obama said.
Obama told reporters he did not agree with one of his supporters, Senator Patrick Leahy, when he said earlier this week that Clinton cannot win the nomination and should therefore drop out. "I hadn't talked to Pat about it," Obama said.
At stops throughout the day, Clinton raised the question of whether she should leave the race - eliciting loud jeers from supporters.
Important election
"There are some people who say we should just stop these elections. 'Enough people have already voted, what's a few million more?"' Clinton said in Louisville, Kentucky. "I don't know about you but I'm glad Kentucky is going to be voting and you'll be choosing because it's such an important election." The state holds its primary May 20.
Campaigning in Pennsylvania, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, said party insiders looking to resolve the contest should step back and allow the process to move forward.
"We just need to relax and let this happen. Nobody's talking about wrecking the party," the former president said. "Everywhere I go, all these working people say: 'Don't you dare let her drop out. Don't listen to those people in Washington, they don't represent us."'
The campaign on Saturday released a fundraising e-mail, signed by Bill Clinton, asking supporters to challenge talk of his wife departing the race by sending a check to her campaign.
"There's no better way to tell Hillary that you support her staying in than to make a contribution to her campaign," he wrote.
Obama offered a bit of tough love to Pennsylvania voters, saying some industrial and manufacturing jobs may not return to this steel region, but others could take their place.
Job creation
Clinton also stressed job creation at campaign stops in Indiana and Kentucky, vowing to help manufacturers transition to new industries like clean energy and ending tax breaks for American companies that ship jobs overseas.
"I think this election, particularly here in Indiana, is about jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs," the former first lady said.
Jobs and the economy are front and centre in the remaining primary contests between the two Democratic hopefuls. Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22, has seen its manufacturing base and especially its steel industry weakened in recent decades, as has Indiana, which votes May 6.
While campaigning in Ohio, another big manufacturing state, both Clinton and Obama criticised free trade deals and insisted the other candidate was not as reliable a protector of US jobs. Clinton won that state's March 4 primary.
Also on Saturday, former Democratic contender John Edwards made his first public comments on the race since dropping out two months ago.
"I have a very high opinion of both of them," Edwards said of Obama and Clinton at the Young Democrats of North Carolina convention. "We would be blessed as a nation to have either one of them as president."
At the same event, Chelsea Clinton said her travels have opened her eyes to sexism.
Scramble
"I didn't really get how much sexism there still was in our country until I was at a rally with my mom in New Hampshire, and someone came up to me and said, 'I just can't see a woman being commander in chief,"' the former first daughter said.
Obama and Clinton also scrambled for the last remaining Democratic national convention delegates in Texas on Saturday as the state's Democrats pushed to settle the outcome of the March 4 party caucus.
Obama holds a 1 623 to 1 499 edge in national delegates, including both those pledged as a result of state primaries and caucuses as well as superdelegates - elected and party officials who can vote for whomever they wish.
In Texas, Obama led Clinton 59-41% in results reported from conventions held across the state before counting stopped for the night - the latest stage of a process that prompted frustration and challenges from supporters of both candidates.
A total of 67 national delegates are at stake in the Texas caucuses. The final count will be determined at the state party convention in June.
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